A direct follow up to Sheppard is holding his guts in when you meet him. This one gets a little spicy near the end (under an 18+ cut, please keep reading for the ending). Didn't mean for this to line up with Valentine's Day (I'm more of a Captain Cook's Death person) but hey, it's thematically appropriate.
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Sometimes The Mountain Buries You is a queer novella about the things that threaten your attempt at a much-needed quiet life. Check out the about page here.
You don’t actually drink—something to do with houses on fire—but if you did you might be wary of the offerings any ways. Despite the promise he's "spruced up the place", you decline to enter his cabin for what would have been the second time in your life.
Sheppard emerges with a thermos of sorts that's kiln fired. He leads you up the side of the rock face and along the ridge until you can just see mostly over but still a little through the densest trees for a full view of the land. Mountain rock and forest, hills and ridges, a deep winding cut bottomed by a river accompanied by the winding paved road neither of which much visible from here, distant indications of town, the nearest fishing lake.
links and search terms from writing 'You don’t actually drink—something to do with houses on fire'.
- "bone anatomy"
- https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/environment/plants-animals-and-ecosystems/invasive-species/alerts/guidetoweeds.pdf (Guide to Weeds in British Columbia)
- https://badenlab.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/euler-and-baden-2016-nature-news-and-views.pdf (Species Specific Motion Detection)
- https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0151099 (Ultra-Rapid Vision in Birds)
- "touch receptor"